Ergonomic Assist Device for Water Blast Gun Manipulation

Traditional methods for aircraft paint stripping use compounds containing volatile organic compounds to loosen chemical bonds between coating materials. Recent tightening of air pollution regulations has made it impractical to continue using these compounds in the same way as in the past. A promising alternative for some aircraft is to blast the paint off using high pressure water spray. The method has proven effective for the top surfaces of wings, horizontal stabilizers, and the fuselage. However, the under-side surfaces of these structures, present an ergonomics problem -- the workers become excessively fatigued from using a water blast gun to spray upward. The proposed concept is for an ergonomic assist device to change the forces that cause the excessive fatigue into forces the workers can tolerate. During this Phase I project the concept will be critically examined and a prototype device will be designed, constructed and tested at an Air Force base. Testing will consider ease of use, worker fatigue, and mobility for reaching under-side surfaces of large aircraft.